Michelangelo

Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam” is a famous section of the Sistine Chapel ceiling painted in 1511. It illustrates the biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God breathes life into Adam, the first man. But was Michelangelo hinting at a different story?

Take a closer look at this painting. First, Adam is very much alive. Is he reaching to God or is God reaching to him?

If you know anything about human anatomy, the depiction of God inside the human brain is unmistakable. I would speculate that Michelangelo was actually saying that God is a creation of man. Man created God in his own image.

Michelangelo was a well educated, multi-talented genius. He no doubt realized that there is nothing outside of the human imagination to prove anything written in the Book of Genesis. Of course he could never admit these ideas in his time, but was this painting a clever way to speak his own mind?